Neufeld v. Manitoba,

• Jurisdiction: Manitoba
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba (Canada)
• Citation: 2001 MBQB 14,(2001), 152 Man.R.(2d) 222 (QBM)
• Date: 19 January 2001

Neufeld v. Man. (2001), 152 Man.R.(2d) 222 (QBM)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2001] Man.R.(2d) TBEd. FE.013

Leslie Wayne Neufeld, on his own behalf and on behalf of all persons unlawfully searched by the Winnipeg Centre Courthouse Perimeter Security Program (plaintiff) v. The Government of Manitoba (defendant)

(CI 00-01-18719; 2001 MBQB 14)

Indexed As: Neufeld v. Manitoba

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench

Winnipeg Centre

Goldberg, Master

January 19, 2001.

Summary:

Neufeld sued on his own behalf and on behalf of all persons unlawfully searched by the Winnipeg Centre Courthouse Perimeter Security Program between August 17, 1998 and April 20, 2000. The defendant, the Government of Manitoba, moved to strike out that portion of the amended statement of claim issued on behalf of all persons unlaw­fully searched by the security program.

A Master of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench allowed the motion.

Civil Rights - Topic 8375

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Denial of rights - Remedies - Damages - [See Practice - Topic 208].

Practice - Topic 208

Persons who can sue and be sued - Indi­viduals and corporations - Status or stand­ing - Class or representative actions - For damages - The defendant moved to strike out that portion of an amended statement of claim issued on behalf of all persons unlawfully searched under the Winnipeg Centre Courthouse Perimeter Security Program between August 17, 1998 and April 20, 2000, when the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled that the Program violated s. 8 of the Charter - The defendant argued that the case would require individual assessments of damages and therefore individual trials, because the loss com­plained of was subjective in nature - A Master of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench disagreed, stating that a single measure of damages could be applicable to all members, if the claim was confined to damages for breach of s. 8 and violation of privacy per se, without proof of actual damage - The Master allowed the motion for other reasons - See paragraphs 29 to 34.

Practice - Topic 209.1

Persons who can sue and be sued - Indi­viduals and corporations - Status or stand­ing - Class actions - Members of class - General - A Master of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench struck the portion of the amended statement of claim issued on behalf of all persons (approximately 600,000) unlawfully searched under the Winnipeg Centre Courthouse Perimeter Security Program between August 17, 1998 and April 20, 2000 - The Master held that ascertaining the members of the class would require thousands of individual hearings on whether each applicant for membership in the class was illegally searched and how many times - The goal of avoiding multiplicity of hearings would not be achieved - Any process to ascertain class membership which offered less pro­tection from fraudulent claims than an evidentiary hearing regarding each claim­ant would be grossly unjust to the defend­ant - See paragraphs 1 to 25, 35.

Cases Noticed:

R. v. Lindsay (D.K.) (1999), 137 Man.R.(2d) 68 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 2].

R. v. Lindsay (D.K.) (1999), 142 Man.R.(2d) 96; 212 W.A.C. 96 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 3].

Gillespie v. Manitoba (Attorney General) (2000), 145 Man.R.(2d) 229; 218 W.A.C. 229 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 4].

Naken et al. v. General Motors of Canada Ltd. (1983), 46 N.R. 139; 32 C.P.C. 138 (S.C.C.), consd. [para. 14].

Ranjoy Sales & Leasing Ltd. et al. v. Deloitte, Haskins & Sells (1984), 27 Man.R.(2d) 311 (Q.B.), affd. 31 Man.R.(2d) 87; 16 D.L.R.(4th) 218 (C.A.), consd. [para. 16].

Bywater v. Toronto Transit Commission (1998), 83 O.T.C. 1; 27 C.P.C.(4th) 172 (Gen. Div.), consd. [para. 23].

Crossman v. Canada (1984), 9 D.L.R.(4th) 588 (F.C.T.D.), consd. [para. 33].

Chrispen v. Kalinowski et al. (1997), 156 Sask.R. 58 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 34].

Statutes Noticed:

Rules of Court (Man.), Queen's Bench Rules, rule 12.01 [para. 12].

Queen's Bench Rules (Man.) - see Rules of Court (Man.), Queen's Bench Rules.

Authors and Works Noticed:

Newberg, H.B., Class Actions (3rd. Ed. 1992), p. 6-61 [para. 23].

Tarnopolsky, Walter S., and Beaudoin, Gerald A., The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: A Commentary (1982 ), pp. 502, 503 [para. 34].

Counsel:

R. Ian Histed and Dallas Parker, for the plaintiff;

Heather Leonoff, Q.C., for the defendant.

This motion was heard by Goldberg, Mas­ter, of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, Winnipeg Centre, who delivered the follow­ing decision on January 19, 2001.